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Question: My Husband & I had been married for 8 years, we have tried many different methods of getting pregnancy with no avail (except IVF). The reason I have not attempted IVF is because I heard that it is extremely expensive with low success rates, is this true?

Dr Helena’s Answer: Many people have a lot of myths and misunderstanding about IVF. In fact, IVF started in the 1970’s with many controversies. It used to be regarded as cultic practice in science, intertwined with many religious, social and ethical controversies

However, many years had gone by and IVF had progressed in leaps and bounds in its technology and approach, proving to the world its value and safety. At the turn of this century, reproductive doctors and scientists had achieved many new innovations and breakthroughs, to make IVF more accessible and safer. Hence, IVF had gradually become the mainstream in reproductive science, making the dreams of having children a reality for many couples

However, it is not unusual to find that people are still weary about IVF, and there are still myths and misconceptions surrounding IVF.

One of the myths about IVF is that it’s extremely costly. We hear stories that people had to ‘loose an arm or a leg’ to be able to afford IVF.

The truth is that IVF cost had reduced remarkably for the last 10-20 years, thanks to many creative innovations, especially in the advent of cost effective medications, culture mediums and lab equipments. The advent of a new freezing technique, called vitrification, allows IVF scientists to freeze embryos more effectively to allow storage of excessive embryos, to be used later, cutting down the need to repeat another IVF cycle, making IVF more cost effective.

The cost of IVF in Malaysia is generally ranging between RM12,000-RM20,000. The price range varies because of differences in clinical and laboratory settings, medications used and etc

The success rates are generally good depending on the age of the women. For women aged below 35, the success rate is about 60-80%. For women above the age of 35 but below the age of 40, the success rate is around 50%. The success rate fell dramatically after the women crossed 40 years of age.

There is recent study on Danish population about the cost effectiveness of IVF. The study followed almost 20,000 Danish women undergoing fertility treatments including IVF. Within three years, 65% of the women had given birth, with the figure rising to 71% within five years.

Therefore, it is important to find out more about IVF before deciding on or against it.